Liberia's Health Officials Says Liberians Will Not Be 'Guinea Pigs' for Ebola Drugs

22 Oct 2014

The Liberia Medicines & Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA), Liberia’s equivalent to America’s FDA, told pharmaceutical companies and health organizations that Liberians will not be their “guinea pigs” for trial Ebola drugs. Liberia is one of the countries Ebola hit the hardest.

The LMHRA has a “mandate to review and approve all clinical trials involving medicines and health products in the country.” The authority wants to end the Ebola outbreak, but only with proper and approved medicines. They were forced to speak out when reports claimed the treatment drug Eboflip entered the country.

“Eboflip, which is said to be indicated for the treatment of the Ebola Virus Disease, has no information on its pre-clinical safety data,” said the authority.

The pre-clinical safety data means the drug has been tested on animals such as monkeys before a human can receive it .

The Friends of Liberia in the Caribbean and Spain [explain what this is– private charity group? state sponsored?] donated a second package of medicine to Liberia to fight Ebola. The medicines are from Eurofármacos Group Europa in Spain. Eboflip is included in the shipment.

“We have no doubt that within the next few weeks Liberia should able to affirm the results of the clinical trial of the drugs, and that they will prove consistent enough to ensure the ultimate control of the pandemic,” said Dr. José Manuel Frias, president of the group.

The press release further noted that Eurofármacos Group Europa already has 30,000 treatments in stock awaiting distribution and has the ability to produce up to 500,000 treatments per month; if required. According to the release, the company also states that EBOFLIP, unlike other products being trialed at present, is not only effective at stopping the development of the disease, but also provides excellent immunity against contracting EBOLA, without having to create a live EBOLA vaccine solution. This is particularly important in immunizing those at high-risk of exposure to the virus such as close family, treating doctors and medical staff.

The group will be banned from freely disseminating these new drugs.

“We would like to use this medium to inform the Eurofarmacos that, there are procedures and guidelines for clinical trials that must be followed by any institution wishing to carry out any of such activities,” said LMHRA Managing Director, Pharmacist David Sumo.

A “Clinical Trial Proposal” has not been proposed and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bernice Dahn denies authorizing the drug for a trial. The LMHRA does not have any information if the drugs were tested on animals.